Friction closure cap



April 28., 1931- E. scoFlELD FRICTION CLOSURE CAP Filed Dec. 21. 1927/lllIl/IIIIII 1431// H mw Patented Apr. 28, 1931 UNITED STATES ParamaerienY EDGAR SCOFIELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSGNOR TG ANCI-10B CAP &,CLOSURE COR- PORATION, OF LONG SLAED G'l',

NE." YGRK, A COBEORATION 0F NEV YORK FRCTION GDOSURE CF1? Applicationfiled December 21, 1927.

The present invention relates to closures and more particularly to aclosure cap of the friction type.

In the manufacture of glass containers, particularly the less expensivegrades of ware, the sizes vary considerably from the predeterminedstandard and are, to a certain extent, elliptical or out-of-ground.Naturally, the ware is graded and containers which vary more than apredetermined amount are rejected. The rapidity with which such gradingis done necessitates the inclusion of certa-in ware that should berejected because of being beyond the permitted range of tolerance.Closurel caps also vary in size but to a less extent than thecontainers.

Certain types of products such as jellies and the like do not have to behermetically sealed. Closure caps which will hold to the container andwhich can be readily removed, may be used for these products. Severalforms of slip covers, that is, metal-to-glass friction seals, have beendevised and the skirts of these caps have been preformed in various waysto improve the holding power of the caps.

Considerable difficulty has been encountered with these caps due to thefact that a cap sufficiently large to fit a container of maximum sizewill not iit tightly on a container of minimum size. AOn the other hand,a cap suiiiciently small to fit tightly on a minimum sized containerwill not accommodate a maximum. Even greater difficulty is encounteredwith those containers which, due to careless grading, fail to berejected and vary beyond the given tolerance. The skirts of caps aresometimes crushed and containers are frequently broken and the contentsspoiled.

Caps are usually applied by an automatic machine operative successivelyupon each of a moving line of filled containers, the .caps being laidupon containers manually before reaching the machine. The breakage ofcontainers under these conditions causes considerable delay. Further,the covers, if not carefully place on the mouth of the containers, willcant from one side to the other.

Serial No. 241,5l3.

his increases the strains upon the caps and vessels. Various attemptshave been made to devise a cap which will overcome thesediiiiculties butthese have been successful only to a very limited extent.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the objections notedabove by providing a friction cap which will take a wide range of sizevariations.

Another object of the invention is to provide a friction cap which willfit tightly on a minimum size container and at the same time will sealon a maximum size container, such caps being readily removable.

Another object of the invention is to minimize the tendency ofthevclosures to cant upon application to containers prior to the sealingoperation. Y

Another obj ect of the invention is to eliminate or minimize thebreakage of containers in the application of friction caps.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent upon anunderstanding of the illustrated embodiment about to be described andvarious advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled inthe art upon employment of the invention in practice. y

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings,wherein Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a closure cap in accordancewith the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detailed view of the projectionsasthey appear from the exterior of the cap;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the projections as theyappear from the interior of the cap;

Fig. i and Fig. 5 are sectional views on the lines 4--4 and 5 5respectively of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of a closure cap about to be applied to acontainer; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view of a sealed container.

Referring to the drawings there is shown a closure cap having a coverportion l and a depending skirt 2 formed of sheet metal and turned up atthe bottom into a rolled edge 3. The skirt of the cap is corrugated asshown at e to form projections extending transversely of the skirt. Thecorrugations preferably are irregular in contour, the respective endportions of the inwardly extending portions being pressed inwardlysubstantially more than the middle portions thereof, These inwardlydepressed parts and 6 are adapted to form-a friction contact with theside wall of the vessel 7 in the sealing operation.

The center parts of the corrugations are much more shallow than the endsthereof and hence do not contact with the receptacle. The upper ends ofthe corrugations form a row of indentations slightly above the center ofthe cap and the lower' ends of the corrugations form a second row ofindentations adjacent the rolled edge 3 at the bottom of the cap. Thesetwo rows are separated by the outwardly extending part formed by theshallow portions of the corrugations intermediate these two rows ofindentations. A suitable liner 9 may' be seated in the upper part of thecap to render the seal between the cover portion of the cap and the edgeof the container' substantially liquid-tight.

In the sealing operation the caps are placed manually upon the tops ofthe containers while they are n'ioving on a suitable conveyor'. Thelower ends of the corrugations engage the mouth of the receptacle andretain each cap in horizontal position. The caps are too tight to betelescoped about the side wall of the container manually and aretherefore pressed on by an automatic machine. The peculiar constructionof the corrugation facilitates the sealing operation due to the factthat when the container engages the bottoms of the lower row ofindentations further pressure upon the cap tends to press theseindentations outwardly and upwardly. rlChese stresses are transnitted tothe upper row of indentations thereby facilitating the expansion of thelower circumference of the cap.

As the cap is pressed further on the container the dominant pressurebecomes outward on the lower row of projections and this is communicatedas an outward pressure on the upper row of projections therebyfacilitating further movement of the cap downward and at the saine timegiving a better frictional engagement between the lower row ofindentations and the container' side wall.

`When outward pressure is applied to both rows of indentations theccrrugations around the entire cap facilitate the expansion in acircumferential direction and in addition the outwardly extending zonel0 forming the middle of the corrugations permits ready expansion in atransverse direc tion. In other words, the corrugations are not rigidbut may be actually bent transversely of their length. This increasesmaterially the amount of expansion permissible with such a cap by givingboth a circumferential expansion and a transverse bending.

The lower sides of the indentations at the bottom of the skirt presentan inclined or flared surface which cooperates with the outer edge ofthe container side wall to hold the cap in a substantially horizontalposition and to minimize the tendency of the caps to cant. Theindentations being` on an internal circumference considerably smallerthan the internal circumference of the skirt of the cap, the cap may bereadily removed by slightly tapping the lower edge of the cap about theperiphery thereof or by rolling the shirt of the cap on a suitabletable. In this way, the metal of the shirt maybe expanded so that thecap may be readily removed manually without'the use of openers.

lVith a cap formed as noted above, a much wider range of sizes may beaccommodated and greater variations from a circular contour may besealed. Experiments show that caps will fit tightly on containersvarying in size considerably more than the permitted variation. On aminimum size container, the cap will fit sufficiently tight so that itcannot be .turned manually; on the maximum size it will not break theglass and the skirt of the cap will readily sustain the pressuresrequired for the sealing operation. Further in either instance the capmay be removed by tapping as noted above. I

It will be seen that the present invention provides a' cap which isinexpensive to manufacture and which will accommodate a much greatervariation in sizeof glass containers than caps manufactured heretofore.The shape of the indentations andtheir position with respect to cachother is such that the skirt of the cap may expand in a circumferentialdirection and also bend in a transversedirection whereby a maximumexpansion 1s possible. Further the caps are not lilrely to beaccidentally removed since the pressure tending to restore the skirtsyto normal shape is amply sufficient to hold them firmly on thecontainers. Further the sealed packages are neat in appearance and fullycapable of withstanding'the rough usage to which they may be subjected.L

As various changes may be made in the above embodiment without departingfrom the spirit of the invention, it is to be understood that all matterherein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limited sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. As an article of manufacture, a friction tumbler cap comprising acover portion and a depending skirt, said skirt being provided with aseries of inwardly extending corrugations about the circumferencethereof, spaced a substantial distance below the cover portion to permitthe expansion of the skirt in both circumferential and transversedirections, the centers of said corrugations extending outwardly from aline joining the ends thereof.

2. As an article of manufacture, a friction tumbler cap comprising acover portion, a depending skirt, and a series of inwardly extendingcorrugations, the end portions of the inwardly extending portions ofsaid corrugations extending inwardly further than the middle thereof,thereby forming a plurality of friction sealing Zones, one aboveanother.

3. As an article of manufacture, a friction tumbler cap comprisingr acover portion, a depending skirt, and a series of inwardly extendingelongated projections extending transversely of the skirt of the capadapted to engage a container, thel end portions of said projectionsextending inwardly further than the middle thereof to form a pair offriction sealing Zones for gripping the cylindrical side wall of thetumbler.

1l. As an article of manufacture, a friction tumbler cap comprising acover portion, a depending skirt, a series of inwardly extendingprojections extending tranversely of the skirt of the cap and adapted toengage a container at the ends thereof, the intermediate part being outo-f engagement with the container to form a plurality of frictiongripping zones, and a rolled. edge at the bottom of said skirt.

5. As an article of manufacture, a friction tumbler cap comprising acover portion, a depending skirt, projections extending transversely ofthe skirt of the cap and forming circumferential sealing Zones forfrictionally gripping the cylindrical side wall of a container, theportion intermediate said zones being corrugated to permit expansion ofthe skirt in both circumferential and transverse directions.

6. As an article of manufacture, a friction tumbler cap comprising acover portion, a depending skirt, a plurality of circumferential rows ofinwardly extending projections adapted to frictionally engage the smoothside wall of the tumbler, the projections of one row being connected tothe projections of the other row to form an intermediate ridge ofcorrugations.

l. As an article of manufacture, a closure .o c mprising a coverportion, a depending a series of inwardly extendinor projecat` thebottom of said skirt, a second :eries of inwardly extending projectionsslightly above the center of the skirt, and

outwardly extending projections intermediate said upper and lower seriesof projections, whereby the skirt of the cap may expand in bothcircumferential and transverse directions. j

8. As an article of manufacture, a closure cap comprising a coverportion, a depending skirt, a series of inwardly extending projectionsat the bottom of said skirt, a second series of inwardly extendingprojections above said first series, outwardly extending projectionsintermediate said upper and lower projections, and a rolled edge at thebottom of said skirt. v

9. A sealed package comprising a container having a substantiallycylindrical side wall sealing surface, a friction closure cap comprisinga cover portion, a depending skirt, a series of inwardly extendingprojections at the bottom of said skirt, a second series of inwardlyextending projections slightly above the center of the skirt, andoutwardly extending projections intermediate said upper and lower seriesof projections, whereby the skirt of the cap may expand in bothcircumferential and transverse directions when forced over the side wallof the container to frictionally engage it.

l0. A sealed package comprising a container having a substantiallycylindrical side wall sealing surface,'a closure cap sealed on thecontainer having a cover portion, a depending skirt, a series ofinwardly extending projections at the bottom of said skirt, a secondseries of inwardly extending projections above said firstA series,outwardly extending projections intermediate said upper and lowerportions, and a rolled edge at the bottom of said skirt.

ll. A sealed package comprising a container having a substantiallycylindrical side wall sealing surface, a closure cap frictionallyengaging said sealing surface and having a cover portion and a dependingskirt, said skirt being provided with a series of inwardl extendingcorrugations about the circumference thereof to permit the expansion ofthe skirt both circumferentially and transversely upon application ofthe cap to the container, the centers of said corrugations being out ofengagement with the side wail of the container to provide a pair ofsealing Zones.

12. A sealed package comprising a container having a substantiallycylindrical sealing surface, aclosure cap having a cover portion, adepending skirt, and a plurality of circumferential rows of inwardlyextending project-ions substantially below said cover portion tofrictionally engage the side wall of the container, the projections inone row being connected to the projections of the other row to form anintermediate ridge of corrugations out of engagement with the side wallof the container.

EDGAR SCOFIELD.

